Dalton

Former Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory is now Governor-elect Pat McCory. He gave his victory speech around 9 p.m. shortly after receiving a concession call from Democratic opponent Walter Dalton.

“Our goal was not just to become governor and get elected to this great office. Our goal was to be governor to lead. That’s what we plan to do and we plan to start that work tomorrow,” McCrory said from a ballroom at the Westin hotel in Uptown Charlotte.

We’ve had two debates for the chief executive for both the nation and the state, and while the Democratic candidates came out swinging in both, it was the president who obviously got his mojo back, and the lieutenant governor trying to make anything stick.

Since the widely-panned performance at the first debate, the need to stem the bleeding by President Obama — particularly among his own party faithful — built up a level of expectations that could have rivaled the level Mitt Romney faced going into the first confrontation.